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GM's Journal - December 1893
Friday 1st - Tuesday 5th December, 1893 Rig, Carmen and Thomas Wilkes head into London to stake out the Cerberos Club - They take Challenger's Aetheric Camera with them, and Wilkes takes several photographs. Meanwhile Belladonna performs a dissection on the Fish-Man that was captured during November's lodge activity. Mrs MacTannon researches encounters with Fish-Men, discovering that there have been several isolated incidents around the coast of England for many years, but there have been relatively few in the past twenty or so. Garvin trains with Charlie and Heather Leather, trying to better prepare them for the rigours of being a Ripper, but Charlie is more interested in trying to see up Heather's skirts, and, as a result, neither of them learns anything. Wednesday 6th December, 1893 Garvin, Rig, Charlie, Alphonse and Heather set out in a borrowed boat in the hopes of catching a live Fish-Man. Thursday 7th December, 1893 Belladonna and Mrs MacTannon, with Jeffrey and 'Cauliflower' Carl in tow, decide, at dawn, to physically investigate the house that, for some time, Mrs MacTannon has been watching due to the strange 'tendrils' of magical force that connect from the house to Hobson and Garvin. They break in, though Carl causes some noise as he does so, and find the downstairs area of the house clean and well-kept, with a pair of pipes that would have been smoked the previous night. Making their way up the stairs, with Carl in the lead, they are ambushed by a dwarf wielding a knife. He slits Carl from Crotch to navel, and the boxer falls down the stairs, landing hard on Jeffrey. While Belladonna tends to Carl's wounds and provides him with some Corpse Dust to revive him, Mrs MacTannon and Jeffrey head up the stairs, a mystical Bolt from Mrs MacTannon putting and end to the dwarf that attacked Carl. At the top of the stairs is a door, which Jeffrey opens gingerly, only to recieve a thrown knife to the chest! Mrs MacTannon avoids being knocked down the stairs as Jeffrey tumbles, and becomes Belladonna's next patient. Carl soon rushes up the stairs to Aid Mrs MacTannon, and a tough fight ensues, during which Carl is once more incapacitated by a man half his size. As the last of the dwarfs falls a spectre appears through the wall, reaches into Jeffrey's chest as if to squeeze hold of his heart, and the man collapses having a heart attack! Mrs MacTannon looks as if she is going to suffer a similar fate, but proves made of sterner stuff, as Belladonna begins to do her best to keep the two men with them alive. Surmising that the second of the upstairs rooms might hold the key to the mystery here, Mrs MacTannon opens the door, and discovers a body lying on a bed - the very image of the spirit attacking them! Her magic - so successful against the dwarfs, fails her in striking this spiritless body, and the spirit turns it's attentions to her once more. This time, the spirit strikes true, and the Widow falls to the ground, her heart squeezed to stopping by the apparition. Belladonna does all she can to save her friend, but there is nothing to be done. Between them, the revived Carl and Jeffrey kill the body, banishing the Spirit - and they leave the house, calling in a favour from the Crystal Palace lodge to clean up the mess left behind as the whole lodge goes into mourning. Friday 8th December, 1893 Rig, Garvin and their Crew are still sailing out in search of Fish-Men, staying with Garvin's friend who owns the boat while they do so. As they sail out this day they hear a scraping on the bottom of the boat and discover that it has sprung a leak! Garvin tells Charlie to 'Bail' - the boy mis-understands and dives overboard, forgetting that he can't swim. Garvin dives over after him, also not able to swim, and the two of them flounder around, and are then attacked by a Fish-Man! Rig throws the pair a rope, then decides that he will serve them better in the water than out, as he can swim! Eventually Garvin and Charlie extracate themselves from the water, while Rig holds off the Fish-Man. Alphonse throws the net that was brought to catch their prey, and does indeed catch something that is thrashing like a berserk beast. Garvin pulls the net towards the boat, subdues its contents with a few swift whacks with an oar, then drags the half-drowned Rig on board in the net! They return to land, bedraggled and with no Fish-Man in tow. Garvin insists that Charlie have a bath when he gets back, and the boy objects until he is promised that Mrs. MacTannon will give him a tot of whisky to 'warm him up' after his bath. Saturday 9th - Wednesday 13th December, 1893 Mrs. MacTannon lies in state while the lodge goes into Mourning. Rig orders a stone plinth, in her memory, to be erected underneath the oak tree in the lodge gardens where she liked to sit. Sir Robert has several benches made, also in her memory. Garvin sends word to the Crystal Palace lodge, asking for information about the body of the man that killed Mrs. MacTannon with his spirit. It transpires that the fellow wore, on the ring finger of his right hand, a bat-shaped ring ... Thursday 14th December, 1893 A Funeral and Wake is held for Mrs. MacTannon, but she is not to be buried in England, rather, Sir. Robert has acquired the farm that used to be hers, and has secured her burial near the remains of her family. Sunday 24th December, 1893 The senior members of the Lodge, Charlie, Jeffrey and Carl arrive at the MacTannon Farm. Monday 25th December, 1893 Mrs. Morag MacTannon is laid to rest in the cold earth with her family. Garvin swears on her grave that the Man in the Red Sash will pay for his part in her death.